


Bring Him Home

by amybelle



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 12:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10741764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybelle/pseuds/amybelle
Summary: During the Quest for Erebor, Dis waits.





	Bring Him Home

**Author's Note:**

> Do not ask me where this came from. I haven't written for years but something compelled me to write this in about 30 mins. It's totally stream of consciousness and completely un-betad so excuse any mistakes. If you see any glaring errors please do let me know and I'll happily fix them.
> 
> You may need a tissue by the end. Not sorry.
> 
> Title from "Les Miserables" because every single time I hear that song, I think about how fitting it is for Thorin and Dis.

Dis, princess of Erebor and current Queen of Ered Luin, glances out the window at the setting sun.  The sky blazes red and gold and Dis sends her nightly prayer to Mahal for the safety of her family.  It has been nearly a year since her boys and brother had gathered the faithful few and gone on their madcap quest to take back the Mountain from a dragon.

 

Kili had promised to write, despite Fili (and Dis herself) reminding him that keeping touch on the road would be difficult, if not impossible.  Kili had elbowed his brother and informed him flatly that they’d just have to find a way to do the impossible, wouldn’t they?  That squabble had taken the better part of a day to resolve, although it had made her laugh.  No matter how old they got, her boys were still *boys*.

 

Kili had managed to send a note from the Shire, saying simply that they’d arrived safely and met up with Gandalf.  Gandalf, in turn, had introduced them to the fourteenth member of the Company, a Hobbit Kili referred to as “Mr. Boggins”.  Knowing her son as she did, she somehow doubted very much that was the poor Hobbit’s name, but she smiled at his small joke anyway.  The letter was short, but Dis was glad that the Company had made it that far with no apparent trouble.

 

_The Quest starts well_ , she wrote to Dain in the Iron Hills.  _May Mahal protect them through the miles yet to come._

 

The next letter comes some weeks later, brought to her lands by an Elf of all peoples.  The letter had apparently passed through many hands before being given to a Dwarf at the borders of the Blue Mountains.  Dis opens the care-worn package, which actually contains two letters.

 

_Made it to Rivendell_ , Kili says in his letter.  Dis frowns slightly, wracking her memory as to why that name was familiar.  Finally it comes back to her as the name for a hidden enclave of Elves.  How in the world did the Company end up there? 

 

Kili goes on, _No major injuries, although we did meet a Warg pack that tried to take several bites out of us.  Fortunately, Gandalf knew a back door to this place.  I can see why some would find it beautiful but honestly, I prefer the rock and stone of our Mountain.  The Elves are feeding us and giving us supplies to take with us over the Misty Mountains so I guess I shouldn’t complain.  On one hand, I’m glad for a few days of rest but on the other, I want to keep going.  Fili feels the same, the longer we wait here,the  less time we have to finish the Quest._  

 

The rest of Kili’s letter is full of chatter about the food in Rivendell, the music, and the Elves themselves.  Dis knows there’s something he’s not telling her but for now, she can only wonder.  The adventure thus far can’t have been that bad or Balin would have written to her himself, knowing full well that Thorin wouldn’t.  She loves her brother dearly but he has rocks for brains at times.  Very little short of a mortal wound would prompt Thorin to write.

 

There’s also a note from Thorin, dated a few days after Kili’s.  Dis has to slightly amend her unkind thoughts about her brother.  _Durin’s Day is our chance to enter the Mountain.  Pray for us, Sister.  Our Quest has been successful so far but none of us have forgotten what awaits us at the end._   Dis shudders, knowing that the dragon is ever on her brother’s mind.  Somehow, his Company of fourteen must find a way to kill the dragon and take back their ancestral home.  She doesn’t have the faintest clue how they’re going to do it.  All she can do is hope that there’s a plan by the time they get there.

 

_Thorin crosses the Misty Mountains soon,_ she tells Dain.  _With each day that passes, he’s getting closer to that thing and I worry more.  How can fourteen possibly take on a dragon?_

 

_I have my people watching for any sign of the Company,_ Dain replies.  _As soon as we see any sign of them we’re prepared to help, all he needs to do is ask._

 

But weeks go by with no news of the Company.  Durin’s Day gets closer and Dis begins praying to Mahal for the success of the Quest at least twice a day.   She just hopes someone is listening since up until now, she hasn’t asked for much.  Now, all she asks, begs for, is for her boys to come home.

 

Durin’s Day comes and goes with no news.  Dis spends the day in her bedroom, praying harder than she ever has in her life.  Finally, finally, the briefest of notes comes from Thorin.

 

_We’ve reached the Mountain and entered it.  The dragon appears to be gone although I know not where.  But rejoice, Sister, Erebor is ours again!_

 

That night, the whole city of Ered Luin gets blind, stinking drunk in celebration.  Somehow Dis can’t find it in herself to be annoyed, being nearly as drunk herself.  Doing any sort of business tomorrow is going to be difficult but for tonight, just for tonight, she can celebrate along with the rest of her people.  Already, she can hear songs being written about the Company.  This Epic will be one for the ages, she thinks to herself.  The tale of how thirteen dwarves and one hobbit took back a Mountain.

 

A few days later, a letter arrives from Dain.  _My people are on the way to help Thorin, he seems to be having a problem with the Men and Elves of the area.  I’m sure we can… convince them to leave._ Dis smiles at that.  Diplomacy has never been one of Thorin’s stronger areas so she can just imagine what this convincing will entail.

 

Weeks pass in silence.  She finally sends a raven to the Iron Hills, asking for news but no reply comes.  Her heart begins to grow more fearful.  Surely if Elves and Men had left, there would be news?  The possible reasons for the lack of contact terrify her but she tries not to think about them.  She’s a Princess of Erebor, and Queen of Ered Luin, she doesn’t have time to break down from worries.  She goes about her duties with a blank face and a stone heart.

 

When a letter finally arrives, somehow Dis knows even before opening it that this is going to shatter her world.  It’s Balin’s writing on the envelope, not Thorin’s, or her sons’.  Heart somewhere in the vicinity of her feet, Dis slowly opens the missive.

 

_Dis,_ Balin writes _, oh Dis, I have no words. Thorin and Fili and Kili… I can’t even speak of it._

 

_We’d taken back the Mountain from that Wyrm but found ourselves under siege from the Men and Elves of Laketown and Mirkwood.  The Men at least had reason to be there, it was one of their own that actually slayed Smaug.  The Elves came, claiming to help the Men after Smaug destroyed their town in his rage, but we all knew it was just to try and claim some of the treasure.  Thorin refused to allow any of them in our halls, which meant we were nearly at war.  Dain’s arrival didn’t really help matters there but in the end, we all had to join together to fight against an army of Goblins and Orcs that suddenly appeared.  The Battle of the Five Armies, I’ve heard some call it.  I have other names in my mind for it, none of them nearly as polite as that._

 

_I didn’t see what happened in the battle beyond my little piece of it but I was the one who found the boys afterwards.  They were together, surrounded by the bodies of their foes.  Fili tried to protect his brother to the very end and Kili never did go anywhere without Fili.  There were just so many, Dis.  We were overwhelmed until Beorn and the Eagles came._ Dis can’t even bring herself to wonder who Beorn is or how Eagles could help the battle.

 

_And Thorin…,_ Balin’s letter continues, _Thorin took many wounds himself.  I believe he was trying to fight his way back to the boys when he fell.  He was found near them with he had too many wounds for me to count, although he still breathed.  He survived long enough to speak to a few of us, although I do not believe he knew Fili and Kili already awaited him in the Halls.  The King Under the Mountain is dead, and his heirs with him.  Dain has been speaking as the King for the moment in negotiations with the Men and Elves, although he would relinquish the crown to you if you wished it.  I already have a fair idea of what your answer will be._

 

_I’m so sorry, cousin.  I know your greatest wish-your ONLY wish- was to see them come home.  Now they have a new home in the Halls and they’re waiting for us._

 

There are a lot of splotches on the paper, as if Balin had cried all through the writing of it.  There’s a sound in the room and Dis barely recognises it as coming from herself.  A high, shrill keen is all she can hear, all she can feel.  Her body feels like it’s disintegrating.  Shaking, she slides onto the floor, trying to take some strength from the stone beneath her but it’s not working.

 

Dimly, she is aware of others around her and soon the news is spreading through Ered Luin.  Where just weeks before there had been celebration, now there is mourning.  Those who had been preparing to return to Erebor pause in their preparations to support her.  Her mind has shut down and she can’t process any of this beyond the most peripheral knowledge.

 

Dis knows that people speak to her over the next hours and days but she can’t bring herself to answer, can’t bring herself to eat or even move.  Her body is stone and her blood is steel.  There is nothing she can do, nothing she can say, to bring her family back to her.  To bring them home.  She curses the Mountain with everything she has, that horrible, awful thing that took so much from her in her lifetime.  She will never set foot anywhere near it, she knows this.  She can’t bear to see the place where so much of her blood was spilled.

 

Slowly, slowly she comes back to herself.  When people speak to her, she begins to answer.  When food is placed in front of her, she eats.  When someone takes her arm to escort her somewhere, she goes.  Her first bath after the news feels like nothing she’s ever felt before.  Even despite the fact she soaks in the bath for what feels like hours, her body still feels like stone, like it has no moisture at all.  She has yet to actually cry.  If she starts, she’s sure she’ll never stop.

 

Time passes and she sees the caravans off that are headed back to Erebor.  She wishes them safe travels and gives the leader of the first caravan a letter for Dain.  It took her a very long time to write and she didn’t really feel better afterwards but at least the formalities are done.  Dain is King Under the Mountain now. 

 

Life goes on, the heart wounds of her loss as fresh as ever but she struggles through it.  Her people need her and she will not abandon them.

 

Later that year, when a knock came at her door, Dis somehow wasn’t surprised to see Dwalin standing outside.  Steady, loyal Dwalin, trying so hard to hide his sorrow and failing utterly.  Wordlessly, he steps aside for his companion.  Dis stares at the small figure standing behind her cousin, a Mithril shirt under his coat and heartbreak in the every line of his body.  Slowly, Dis sinks to her knees before him and cries.


End file.
